Lifesight

Gift of Sight a charitable program launched in 2008 as Christmas Gift of Sight awards sight-saving surgery to individuals without the financial means to afford the necessary care. In 2015 LifeSight expanded its Christmas Gift of Sight program from annual to semi-annual surgery awards and due to this in 2017 renamed the program "Gift of Sight". In 2018 the Gift of Sight service area was expanded from eye care clinics and their patients in the Black Hills of South Dakota to include eye care clinics and their patients located east of Rapid City in the Mobridge Pierre Winner all in South Dakota and Chadron Nebraska communities. Since its inception LifeSight and its program partners have provided 109 sight-saving surgeries through Gift of Sight helping those underserved in our community regain their vision and most importantly independence mobility and quality of life.

Much of vision loss can be prevented and treated through routine comprehensive eye exams and a simple pair of prescription glasses. For someone with uncorrected vision daily tasks like reading signs while driving completing work assignments or navigating a store can become daunting or even dangerous. But due to lack of resources many medically underserved adults in our community have limited-to-no access to any type of vision care services. To close this gap at the end of 2019 LifeSight launched VisionCARE to provide no-cost eye exams and glasses to low-income adults by way of collaboration with LifeSight program partner Complete Health formerly Community Health Center of the Black Hills. Services for eye exams and glasses are delivered through a trusted network of VisionCARE provider optometrists. LifeSight underwrites the costs for VisionCARE eye exams and glasses at negotiated reimbursement rates with 200 individuals having received essential VisionCARE services to date - providing a simple but powerful path to helping people see better to live better.

A. Medical student volunteers from the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine have conducted research much of it in conjunction with KidsFIRST Free Vision Screenings resulting in the following published manuscripts: 1. Results of a Pediatric Vision Screening Program in Western South Dakota published March 2015 in South Dakota Medicine; 2. Childhood Vision Screening in Western South Dakota; Examining Barriers to Post Vision Screening Followup Referral published January 2017 in South Dakota Medicine; 3. An Evaluation of SPOT Screening Efficacy for Children in South Dakota published May 2018 in South Dakota Medicine; 4.A Review of Childhood Vision Screening Laws and Programs Across the United States published July 2019 in South Dakota Medicine; 5.Multi clinic Evaluation of the SPOT Photoscreeners Efficacy for Detecting Amblyopia Risk Factors as Compared to Same Day Optometrists Examinations in 305 Western South Dakota Children published July 2021 in Aesculapius Journal Health Sciences and Medicine; 6.A Survey of Eye Care Needs Among Community Health Center Patients in Western South Dakota published October 2022 in South Dakota Medicine; 7. Poverty and Vision: The Effect of Title 1 Status on Vision Screening Referral Rates in School Aged Children in Western South Dakota published August 2024 in Ophthalmic Epidemiology. B. LifeSight Dr. Paul L. Zimmerman Memorial Scholarship Endowment established with the University of South Dakota Foundation awards a scholarship to a fourth year University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine student with expressed interest in ophthalmology. C. Sponsorship of eye care professional Continuing Education at Black Hills Regional Eye Institute. D. South Dakota Optometric Society exhibit. E. Newsletter. F. Resource center for eye related information and needs.